Transit Police to get many more Tasers to allow 'less-lethal' response option

Transit Police Chief Doug LePard is ordering a three-fold increase in the number of officers equipped with Tasers as a way of providing an alternative to using guns during critical incidents.

LePard said Wednesday that there are currently about 20 officers trained and equipped with Tasers among the force’s 120 front-line officers. That number should reach 60 during the coming year.

“I want police officers to have that option if it’s appropriate,” he said in an extensive year-end interview. “You never want to be forced to use deadly force if there is an option.”

The directive would mean one officer in every pair would be equipped with a Taser that could be used to subdue a person acting dangerously, while the other officer would stand “lethal overwatch” with a standard-issue Glock handgun.

LePard made the comment in response to the shooting earlier this week of a man armed with a machete-like weapon at the 29th Avenue SkyTrain Station. Transit officers had locked the man inside a train, but he escaped after kicking out a window and was shot by Vancouver police. The man remains in serious condition in hospital but is expected to survive.

Metro Vancouver is the only region in Canada with dedicated transit police.

The shooting provides a window into the unique role of transit police and their relationship with other municipal and RCMP forces in the region.

“I want to ensure there is never a situation in which a transit police officer is dealing with a critical incident like that where they do not have rapid access to a less-lethal option,” LePard said.

Transit police are fully trained and armed officers capable of responding to any crime. But they mainly play a support role to the other forces in various municipalities.

“It’s very collaborative,” LePard explained. “Generally, the philosophy of policing is, ‘You caught it, you clean it.’ I can assure you that (the other police departments are) happy we’re taking the load off them.”

He said that in cases involving a chargeable suspect in 2015, transit police conducted the entire investigation in 61 per cent of cases, and offered assistance to other forces in the rest.

When it comes to more serious indictable crimes, the jurisdictional police force tends to take control, as evidenced by the fact it was Vancouver police who shot the suspect at the 29th Avenue Station.

LePard would not comment directly on the case due to an ongoing investigation by the Independent Investigations Office, but noted he had ordered the new Tasers prior to the incident.

“Generally speaking, a situation like that could have been an ideal scenario (for a Taser),” LePard said.

There has been no suggestion by Vancouver police that a Taser was used prior to the SkyTrain shooting on Monday.

In 2014, Transit police shot and killed a man with a knife who was acting irrationally inside a Surrey Safeway store. A report by the Independent Investigations Office cleared them of any wrongdoing, but the shooting victim’s family questioned why a Taser was not used.

Transit officers receive a two-day training course on how to deal with a high-risk situation on transit.

LePard took over the Transit Police in March after 35 years with the Vancouver Police Department, most recently as deputy chief. He noted there was a “big chill” over the use of Tasers after the death of Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver International Airport in 2007. Dziekanski was hit five times with a Taser. Two Mounties were later found guilty of perjury in connection to the incident.

“A lot of members were uncomfortable with using it,” LePard said. “Members of the VPD were turning them in, saying ‘I don’t want to carry them anymore.’

“The reality is that these are an important tool. They can save lives — and have.”

Before he left VPD, he said he managed to double the number of Tasers to 200 for about 650 patrol officers.

LePard is the fourth Transit Police chief since 2005.

He would like to see transit policing incorporated into one large regional police department — even if that puts him out of a job. “I’d be the first one to argue, ‘Why don’t we just have a division of the metropolitan police?’”

Because that is not the case in Metro Vancouver, he believes that a dedicated transit force is the most logical and efficient way to seamlessly patrol parts of 21 distinct municipalities.

Since the beginnings of the department, there has been debate over the cost and the necessity of a dedicated transit police force.

“I tell you, the police officers here, they do not get the credit they deserve,” LePard said. “They do a great job. Front-line beat policing is tough work. They work hard, they’re out there every day making arrests. It’s not cushy.”

As the new guy on the block, LePard wants to “up our game” in terms of investigations, including improved training on interviewing skills.

“Historically, there was an attitude here, ‘Hey, just give it to the jurisdictional police.’” The goal now is for officers to “thoroughly investigate every incident we can, from front to back.”

In 2013, the Mayor’s Council on Regional Transportation asked the regional transportation commissioner to “provide a report back as soon as possible on the two-tier system for Transit Police, including an analysis of statistics and comparables with other police forces in the region.” The commissioner’s position was eliminated in 2014 without the report being provided. Politicians seemingly moved on to other issues.

At that time, TransLink faced a $30-million shortfall, about equivalent to the Transit Police budget.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson suggested the force be disbanded, arguing there are already police departments in place where the transit line runs.

Jordan Bateman of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said he pushed mayors hard on the issue at the time and is disappointed nothing came of it. “It’s a huge missed opportunity. They pass a motion and it just disappears.” Since then, he says the mayors have “got into bed” with TransLink and seem reluctant to “rock the boat.”

Robertson repeatedly refused to be interviewed on the subject, saying through his staff that the “new Transit Police chief and TransLink CEO are evaluating the program.”

TransLink, which pays the police bills, also refused to comment.

When someone calls 911 to report a crime on SkyTrain, the call is routed to the jurisdictional police, which then makes the decision to contact the Transit Police. Transit officers don’t stick strictly to transit property — they walk around their neighbourhoods, and often assist other forces if they are closest to a crime.

About 25 per cent of incidents investigated by transit officers come from 911 calls forwarded from other agencies.

LePard noted that two-third of the incidents dealt with by transit officers “are reported to us by staff or the public…and never make it to the 911 system.”

Seventy-six per cent of SkyTrain passengers report feeling safe from crime, compared with 82 per cent on the Canada Line, 83 per cent on the bus system, and 88 per cent on the SeaBus.

The Transit Police has no jail or forensic identification unit for detailed crime-scene work, but has agreements to borrow those services from other police forces.

Transit Police employs 167 officers and 68 support staff. Eight more officers are on the way to help patrol the new Evergreen SkyTrain extension.

A first-class transit constable earns $90,468 a year, compared with $97,776 in the Vancouver Police Department, although a new transit rate is being negotiated.

Transit Police recorded more than 300 sex-related offences in 2015, catching two-thirds of offenders, who consistently are unknown to the victim. The force makes about 250 apprehensions a year under the Mental Health Act for people posing a danger to themselves or others.

Transit force applies old-style beat-policing model

Staff Sgt. Dex Huber stands to the side as hockey fans pour through the fare gates at SkyTrain’s Stadium-Chinatown Station after a Vancouver Canucks game.

He turns his dark Transit Police jacket inside out to reveal a bright green colour that makes him more visible to the crowds. He wears a protective vest underneath, with a Taser on his left hip and a Glock pistol on his right.

“If something happens, stand back and don’t interfere,” the transit policeman of nine years advised earlier.

Const. Aaron Chan works nearby with his Labrador retriever Kona, who is so popular with the public that she has her own business cards. Kona is one of four transit dogs trained to sniff out explosives — she wouldn’t dream of biting the leg of a fleeing suspect.

Around the world, terrorists have targeted transit systems, including in Brussels where 35 were killed earlier this year, as well as 41 dead in Moscow in 2010, 209 dead in Mumbai in 2006, 56 killed in London in 2005, and 191 dead in Madrid in 2004.

“When you look around the world, when you have a mass transportation system, it’s a requirement,” Huber says of the dogs.

That’s the kind of night it’s going to be for Huber, tonight’s watch commander for Metro’s Transit Police. A Postmedia News team accompanies him for six hours, riding the Expo and Millennium lines, and the new Evergreen extension to Coquitlam, without being dispatched to a single crime or observing any problems on the system.

Transit policing harks back to the days of beat policing, chatting with passengers and local businesses, acting as a deterrent to crime and giving riders a sense of safety.

Seventy-six per cent of SkyTrain passengers report feeling safe from crime, compared with 82 per cent on Canada Line, 83 per cent on the bus system, and 88 per cent on the SeaBus.

“It’s a moving city,” Huber allows. “Just being around, you don’t know what crime you are deterring.”

TransLink reports 1.27 million “boardings” (you are counted twice if you take a bus and then switch to SkyTrain) on an average weekday on its system, including West Coast Express and SeaBus.

Huber previously served 28 years full- and part-time as a soldier with the Canadian Forces, and six years as a B.C. government commercial vehicle inspector.

When riding a transit train, he pokes his nose outside the door at every stop to check for trouble, positioning one of his big black boots against the automated door. He regularly checks in with dispatch to let them know where he is.

At Moody Centre Station on the Evergreen line, he asks a pre-teen boy to stop playing on a ledge by the escalator.

“Why?” the boy asks.

“Because you’ll fall and hurt yourself.”

Huber notes that past generations would have automatically done what an officer said, but no longer.

He always stands on the trains because “sitting down doesn’t look good.” A shift can be murder on an officer’s legs and back.

One passenger standing nearby is Coquitlam Coun. Terry O’Neill. He is concerned that the increased population density around the transit stations could lead to more crime and the need for increased police presence.

“Because more people are going to be living around stations, there might be more (crime).”

As the evening progresses, the demographics change. Families and children are replaced with a younger crowd. From time to time, the smell of marijuana drifts through the trains and across the platforms.

At Commercial-Broadway Station, Huber chats with a couple of street vendors selling their wares on the concrete out front. One cannot help be suspicious about how one man acquired so many pairs of running shoes.

Huber tells one man on the platform to put out his cigarette. And he asks another desperate-looking man, stooped over with a hoodie, if he is okay. He nods that he is, though Huber wonders.

At Waterfront Station, he wanders into a new satellite office to eat a hamburger. Then he takes a walk into a darkened parking area just east of the building. “You never know what you’ll find in a back lot.” Sometimes officers will walk between stations just to better know their patrol area.

At Main Street Station, he watches other officers board a Fraser Street bus and conduct a fare check. Two young men without fares are ordered outside to be given $173 tickets. If passengers cannot provide identification, officers can request a computer criminal check, which often reveals they are wanted on warrants.

The final stop on tonight’s tour is Surrey Central Station, one of the more crime-ridden parts of the transit system. Two policemen working the station are Arvind Parmar and Jag Brar. Earlier, Surrey RCMP asked Transit Police to provide assistance with a robbery at London Drugs, within sight of the transit line.

This is Parmar’s first policing job. “It’s a very busy area. A lot more people here, so you’re going to have more issues.”

Brar used to serve in a rural RCMP detachment in Alberta. “The amount of people I’d see in a day, I now see in an hour or so. Beat policing is the best part, interacting with people from all walks of life.”

Huber boards the train for the ride back to his New Westminster office. He would like to think that police are responsible for the quiet night, but the fact is there is nothing like cold, rainy weather to keep people indoors and off the trains.

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